Life's Alright

Hello Everyone,

Things are going alright here in Da Nang. Two of the teachers that I was observing have returned to Canada, so this past week I began teaching all four classes on my own. So far it's been great. I love teaching and I think I'm pretty good at it. Also, since I've become the students only teacher my opinions of them have changed. I have fallen in love with kids that I used to find annoying haha. Weird how that happens huh? 

I bought a motorbike. It's pretty sweet. It's the cheapest new motorbike you can find in Da Nang haha but it works! Most of the time haha. It's great though I don't have to rent a motorbike every time I want to go out of town, or when I'm tired and don't want to ride my bike to this place and that I just take my motorbike =). I still love riding my bicycle around though. 

A strong storm came through a couple of weeks ago. It gave all of the new teachers a little taste of the rainy season. Everything was always damp, my clothes, my bed, the walls. Mold was beginning to grow on almost everything. The street outside of our house flooded. I had to turn my motorbike off and push it through the flood back to my house. The water was up to my waist. It was actually a little scary. The picture in this post shows you how it looked before it got really bad. Those ten days of constant rain have made me afraid of the upcoming rainy season. I'm from Southern California, I can't handle the rain, especially constant rain. By the third day it was beginning to wear on my mood and my body. I didn't want to do anything all day, felt a little depressed, and thought about home a lot. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when the rainy season finally does arrive and I don't see the sun for three months. One good thing about the storm was that it also brought decent surf to the coast. I was finally able to surf actual waves! One day I was surfing in heavy rain, lightning, and thunder. That was a little scary haha. The rainy season will bring more consistent surf though, so that's an upside. 

This past week I had to have a health check-up in order to get my business visa. That was quite the experience. I had to have urine tests, blood tests, breathing tests, an X-ray. Getting all that done in a Vietnamese hospital was interesting. I had one sort of frustrating experience. I was getting my breathing tests done one afternoon and the doctor noticed my chest scar from the surgery I had as a kid. He asked me what it was from and my translator (one of my teachers assistants) didn't understand everything I was saying. So then the doctor asked me if I had my papers for the surgery. I tried to explain that I received this surgery as a kid and didn't carry around papers for it in my pocket! He told me that I couldn't pass the tests unless I had my papers. So then he wanted me to wait for another doctor to check me out but I was going to be late for one of my classes. I was getting so frustrated, especially because he was having every nurse and doctor in the place look at my chest like I was some sort of freak-show. Anyways through a system of translators I was able to explain the situation to the doctor and he finally let me go. It was just one of those frustrating cross-cultural cross-language experiences that are bound to happen.

I'm sick again. I have the flu this time =(. I feel like I haven't gone one week without having some sort of sickness the entire time I've been here. I have had food poisoning, two colds, and various stomach problems. I'm beginning to think that it's just part of life here. The food is so different and prepared differently. Almost all of it is delicious it just makes me sick from time to time. Even my Vietnamese friends have frequent stomach problems, not as much as I do of course haha. Hopefully my stomach is strong as a steel trap soon haha. 

Well, that's about it. I'm just livin life, nothing crazy but I'm having a great time. Keep me in your thoughts for the rainy season! I miss you all!

Peace.